This pastel ode to idealism suggests that religious architecture doesn't have to be forbidding or imposing. Set in the pastoral Tay Ninh province a few hours from Saigon, it was constructed in 1928 as a modernist tribute to Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islamism, Confuscianism and local Vietnamese spiritualism. Victor Hugo is one of many patron saints. Somewhat like Baha'i, Cao Dai is about 'celebrating a universal deity which has been interpreted in different ways by different cultures'... I just like the fusion of a multitude of styles and adornments like the map of the world on the back dome of this picture... I think this 'Holy See' might even be said to be an example of postmodern whimsy (kind of like Oscar Wilde was ahead of his time). It has been suggested that, should it be equipped with cable TV and access to some 24-hour music channel, it may just win the Epiphanie Bloom Award for Eclecticism*

Islamic-style formation for the noon prayer and chanting- the white robes represent purity, the red sashes indicate a specialisation in Buddhism (blue for Christianity and yellow for Taoism).

A representation of Vietnamese poet Nguyen Binh Kheim, Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat Sen and French novelist Victor Hugo (idolised as the champion of the everyday person) hosting the 'third alliance between "God and Humanity"' in Chinese and French scripts... now if only more women informed the multiplicity already on display

Who said MI6 wasn't multi-faceted?

Working for the British Secret Intelligence Agency looks playful from the outside...

This minimalist story of profusion in London is referred to as 'No. 1 Poultry'...

Shanghai made me so happy with sights like this waiting around every corner... it was like being confronted by Leonardo da Vinci paintings in Florence, only so much more exciting as I wasn't expecting to be so incredibly inspired by the built environment

This is my own photo, captured three years after the above (by my friend Debra), and demonstrating how even returning to the same place can be a new experience. And if most of my pics of China are taken at a tilt, it just goes to show how 'mind-bending' I found the environment

A commercial complex in Düsseldorf, Germany (if anyone knows more about it, please let me know)

What's so postmodern about Hangzhou pagodas decorated in mauve and gold? I like to think of it as a (reluctant) subversion of the more radical propaganda freely available in China